I’m Also Very Picky About My Paper

When it comes to notebooks, I always opt for a dotted grid whenever possible because it feels simultaneously structured and opened-ended: I can make sure my writing stays in a straight line, easily outline uniform squares if I’m making a list, and doodle or draw without the distraction of a heavy solid grid or straight lines. And AHGXG’s dot-grid notebooks are the platonic ideal of what I’m looking for.

The paper itself is acid-free, very smooth, and nicely thick at 100gsm — there’s zero ghosting with the vast majority of my favorite pens, and the few heavier varieties (most of which are best for art rather than writing) are only truly visible if you hold the sheet up to the light (which you probably won’t). Best of all,my preferred style— which has 80 A5-size (5.7-by-8.3 inches) pages, with a very sturdy wire-bound spine and rigid, semi-translucent front and back plastic covers — is an absolute steal at just $17 for a three-pack, far less than what you might expect to pay for even a single notebook of similar quality. The brand also offers lined- and graph-paper options, alternate sizes, and hard-and soft-cover varieties to choose from, all of which are very reasonably priced.

Until I discovered AHGXG notebooks, I used these pretty exclusively. I was initially drawn to the price point — about half the price of a comparable Moleskine — as well as the colorful covers (there are soft and hard options) that turned out to be incredibly high quality. (Note: I’ve purchased all my Minimalism Art notebooks from Amazon, and the color options have dipped dramatically in recent years. For a bigger and better variety, head tothe brand’s website.)

The notebooks themselves are sewn-bound and, after just a bit of breaking in, lay completely flat when open. The soft covers, which I prefer, have acid-free, 100gsm paper (the hard covers’ are 120gsm), though I do find it just a touch thinner and rougher than AXGXG’s supposedly identical-weight pages. Still, they’re absolutely lovely to write on, allowing for a smooth, sleek line regardless of what I’m writing with. Most of the time, I use pencils and standard writing pens in this notebook, but there’s also very minimal ghosting even when my more art-specific pens come into play, and all but my heaviest markers (a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point is, as always, the most problematic) still allow for writing on the other side of the page. Colored markers (I useTombow Dual Brush pensa lot) and acrylic paint pens also make a near-negligible dent.

Clairefontainecahiersare basically the fancy (and French) versions of your standardMead— higher quality (and price point) but ultimately your basic school notebook. But, unlike anything Mead makes, Clairefontaines feel incomparably elegant and just plain cool. Whether they know it or not, people who use them are part of a singular IYKYK club, at least as far as I’m concerned.

There are a few reasons for this: To start, the paper is premium. Each 90gsm page has an ultrasmooth satin finish that eliminates ink feathering and bleed-through and does a great job of preventing ghosting from pretty much everything except Sharpies. Even my color-saturated markers and paint pens barely show through. The glossy notebook covers are also very nice—they’re printed with the brand’s abstract plaid pattern and come in the same bright, saturated colors you’d find in a pack of classic Crayola markers. I also love the logo. And they’re very well made, with either a sturdy, ring-bound spine (pictured here) that resists bending or a stitched, cloth-covered binding that easily lays flat when open.

But it’s the nostalgia factor that I find most compelling. I first discovered these notebooks in high school, when I became close friends with a very elegant classmate who used them exclusively. So I started using them exclusively, and I suddenly felt as if I’d joined some special secret society. I continued to use them throughout college and really stocked up while living in France during my junior year. And while I don’t use them nearly as regularly these days, the mere sight of one takes me right back to ninth grade and that feeling of discovering something truly remarkable.

The most compelling part of a Rollbahn is its aesthetic appeal: the sparse, functional beauty of its sans serif logo; the vintage airline theme (rollbahnis German for “taxiway,” and the German phrases on the cover translate to things like “The propellers are spinning” and “Traveling means living”) and overall Euro vibe, even though the company behind the brand, Delfonics, is based in Japan; the contrasting-color covers (my current one is bright pink); and the yellowed pages. And while the 70gsm paper, though incredibly smooth and sleek, isn’t quite as thick as I’d like it to be, and the regular price is comparatively higher than what I’d prefer to pay (I always try to buy them on sale), the combined effect makes these notebooks an absolute pleasure to write in.

As for writing on the pages, all of my pens glide smoothly and the ghosting is minimal for the most part, though I think a pencil or ballpoint pen are the best to use. I also stay away from Sharpies and other types of markers, which is an easy ask, since these aren’t meant for artwork — though if I do use a page for drawing, I can always rip it out and (if it’s any good) stash it in one of the plastic sleeves in back. Yet another feature I love.

Appointed’s The Notebook is a recent addition to my lineup, and I was admittedly very reluctant to test it out in the first place. At $24, it’s at least double what I’d normally spend, so stocking up and rebuying regularly would be out of the question, no matter how much I liked it. And while the linen feel is a lovely and elevated touch, it’s also practically begging for me to ruin it with a series of coffee stains. Still, the brand’snotebooksandplannershave beenpraisedby various Strategist staffers and contributors for a while now, and I have used Appointed planners in the past and liked them very much, so I felt compelled to test one out. Fortunately (or otherwise — time will tell), I havenotbeen disappointed. The paper has the slightest bit of texture but an overall satiny feel that prevents feathering or bleeding, and an approximately 105gsm weight that prevents ghosting from the majority of my pens. At 7.5-by-9.5 inches, it’s slightly larger than theA5notebooks I typically go for, and it feels quite substantial and sturdy in hand, though it’s by no means too big. In other words, it’s definitely a quality book.

Yet its biggest selling points are, in my opinion, the little details: Each page is gridded on one side and blank on the other, which I’d never seen before but now recognize as the ideal design for an equal parts thorough notetaker and compulsive doodler like me. The pages are also perforated, meaning no jagged edges or little leftover paper crumbs when I inevitably tear one out. And most cleverly of all, each one has the wordDateprinted lightly and vertically in the lower left-hand margin, which essentially transforms the entire thing into a minimalist planner when you orient it horizontally. It’s entirely unexpected and also totally brilliant.

Bristol is basically a really, really nice multimedia art paper. There are different levels of quality and thickness, but in general it’s sturdy, thick, and comes in two surfaces qualities:vellum, which has a toothy texture and is generally considered better for dry media (pencils, charcoal, pastels) and creates a softer look, andsmooth, which has a sleek surface more suited to pen and ink and allows for sharper, more defined lines. I use vellum on occasion (it’s especially good for quick watercolor tests when I’m not ready to break out my actual, and much pricier, watercolor paper). But because I play around mostly with pen and ink, and because I prefer a sleek paper surface in general, I typically go for the smooth — and the Strathmore 300 Series in particular. It’s 270gsm (the thickness of a very fancy business card), perfectly soft and matte, tears cleanly from the tape-bound pad, and, perhaps most important, isverynicely priced at around $10 to $15 for a 20-page pad (though you can often find it on sale for about half that). There are even sturdier Bristol boards out there (Strathmore’s400and archival quality500Series boards, for example), but for my day-to-day art-making, I’ll be sticking with my 300 for the long haul.

In addition to the Bristol pad above, Strathmore also makes some very reliable and affordable mixed-media pads, as do similarly tiered brands likeCansonandBlick Studio. But I’ve gotten into the habit of using these Fabriano pads for general artistic use and I have no plans to stop. The paper is 110lb/160gsm, which is more than thick enough to handle any pen or marker I throw at it with absolutely zero ghosting, bleeding, or buckling. It’s ring-bound with a strong perforated edge that still allows for a clean tear. I also love the very manageable and portable 7-by-10-inch size, which is big enough for more complete illustrations but also small enough for doodles and random sketches.

This is a more recent discovery that’s also definitely on the pricier side, but the pad itself is just so lovely that I can’t leave it out. I’m also not entirely sure how to categorize it, since Short Hand (where I bought it) says it’s for writing, but I personally find it too beautiful to waste on any text short of a heartfelt, hand-calligraphed letter or something else dramatic and artistic, hence the “for art” category.

It’s also here because, although the paper is definitely on the thin side (100gsm, though it has a less-slick, more porous texture that makes it feel even thinner), it actually can take the majority of my art-specific pens with little to no ghosting. While I refuse to waste precious pages on random doodles, I have no problem using them for more purposeful pencil and ink sketches. And regardless of how much (or little) I use it, just seeing the beautiful pale pink cover and Grotesk logo font on my shelf feels like a breath of fresh, refined air.

I’m more of a pencil and ink girl now, but watercolors used to be my primary medium, and Arches is my go-to watercolor paper. It’s 100 percent cotton, which makes it strong, absorbent, long lasting, and durable enough to withstand wet-on-wet painting — i.e., you can pre-wet the paper, layer color washes, and play around with really fun blending and bleeding techniques without having the paper buckle or break down. And while there are other high-end brands that use 100 percent cotton (lower-quality options tend to use more affordable cellulose pulp blends), Arches also uses a cylinder mold-making process that creates a more even sheet, plus a proprietary sizing that adds even more strength and absorbability. In other words, it’s pretty special.

The all-cotton composition and fancy manufacturing means it’s also not cheap (this pad breaks down to about $2 per sheet, and the price just goes up from there), so I don’t use it casually — I’ll do sketches and tests on something like thisCanson, which I feel much better about trying things out and making mistakes on. But when I am ready for the real thing, Arches is about as good as it gets.

When I just need some scratch paper, when my daughter asks for something to draw on, and/or when all else fails, this is what I reach for. If you’re looking for some all-purpose loose-leaf or printer paper, there are plenty of more affordable options out there, but they’re thinner and tend to be much rougher. This one is nicely thick (120gsm), very sleek, and feels incredibly smooth to write on with pens, pencils, markers, and whatever else you might take to it. (It holds up really well against glue and glitter, too.) Thecheaper stuffis totally fine for things like making quick shopping lists, printing mailing labels, or anything else you know is going to get tossed out pretty immediately. But sometimes my mindless sketching turns into a piece I actually want to keep working on, or my daughter paints a picture that deserves more than just a quick stint on the fridge. When that happens, I’m reminded why I shell out for the higher-quality stuff, and I never regret it.